Things are still a little off with me. I’m no longer in a funk, I’ve returned to the gym, and my house is finally clean, but I’m still not all there. Now, it seems, I have a bit of blogger’s block. I sit down at my computer to write a post, and nothing comes to me. What I do write feels like crap. Yesterday morning, I struggled with writing my review for Locke and Key. It’s still unfinished, and I’m not quite sure how I want to write it, as the review covers three books. I think I need to outline.
So, to deal with my writing constipation, I’ve returned to my most comfortable and favorite writing medium–good ol’ pen and paper. It does seem to help, as I’m not struggling with writing right now. I guess that I’ll keep at it until I feel like my old self again.
At least, through all of this offness, I have been reading. Maybe too many books. Perhaps my divided attention is affecting my blogging focus. But, I am reading. Here’s what I’ve finished reading, am still reading, and just started reading.
• Mrs. Warren’s Profession– I finished this play by George Bernard Shaw last night, finally! I really enjoyed it, but, for some reason, was struggling with the drama format. Maybe, I’m out of practice. The themes were very interesting as the story dealt with prostitution in the Victorian era and gender inequalities. The play also featured one of my new favorite female characters–a young intellectual woman with a penchant for mathematics, working hard, and being independent. My kind of gal!
• I Want My MTV– This one is taking a while because I’m always stopping my reading to watch the videos on YouTube. It’s a lot of fun, and while the commentary on various videos, musicians, VJs, and events from the ’80s is interesting, a lot of the context of this book is old news for me. I was a huge MTV fan growing up, so this is more like a walk down memory lane. I tend to skim the chapters on the MTV corporate execs though. I’m not interested in how much coke those guys snorted.
• The Portable Dorothy Parker- This one I will be working through slowly. It is a collection of Parker’s short stories, poetry, and essays. Mainly, I read this one before bed, averaging a short story per day. I am loving her short stories! Actually, I am just loving Parker period–she just seems to be my literary soul mate. I really connect with her writing. She even provided the perfect quote for my title today, which sums up my issue with writing right now, as well as my issues with just about anything that I want to do, but can’t seem to do (I hate the gym, but I love having gone to the gym. I hate work, but I love having worked. I hate cleaning, but I love having cleaned the house. You get my drift…).
So far, I’ve read the following stories:
“The Lovely Leave”- Gah! I so related to this sad story of a woman who eagerly prepares for her husband, an officer away at war, to return home on leave. She has such high hopes for the 24 hours they get together, you just know that it won’t turn out well. Parker’s depiction of the woman’s insecurities and reactions to her husband’s life away from her are so relatable, I could easily put myself in her shoes, and I cringed often. This one really resonated with me.
Illustration by Seth
“Arrangement in Black and White”- Ugh. A very short piece following a ditzy moron of a woman at a party who is eager to meet an African American musician who is the guest of honor. She falls all over herself for being so forward-thinking by calling him “Mister” and enjoys the novelty of the moment. This story reminded me of people I knew in college- rich kids who would “slum it” in San Diego for the novelty.
Illustration by Seth
“The Sexes”- A cute, short dialogue between a young woman punishing a young man suitor for paying attention to another woman at a party. Their conversation felt so true, and I know I’ve had this conversation before. Oh ladies–why are we so neurotic at times?
• The History of English Literature by Perry Keenlyside and read by Derek Jacobi: I needed something to listen to in the car, so I went to the library and found this. It’s not too bad, kind of like having Derek Jacobi as your lecturer during a six-hour English Lit class. Snippets of literature are read, juxtaposed with the history behind it. I really liked listening to Chaucer read aloud- perhaps that’s how I’ll do The Canterbury Tales this year.
Also, today is Sunday, so tonight is television night! Why are all of my favorite shows on Sunday? I don’t know, but it’s good stuff.
• Season Finale of Downton Abbey: What’s going to happen to Bates? Will Mary and Mathew get together? Wasn’t I asking these same questions before the finale of season 1?
Yes, and I’m so glad that the same high drama is still happening. I can’t wait to tune in, and this is why.
• The Walking Dead: Finally, it seems that the living will be the bad guys on the show. Let’s face it- humans and human nature are way scarier than zombies.
I wonder when and if Shane is going to bite the bullet. As long as he’s alive, it seems that Rick won’t get his somewhat anti-heroic status that he maintains in the graphic novels. I love the actor who plays Shane, but I want to see Rick screw up more and be more tormented by his conscience. One of the major and most important themes of the story is what this apocalyptic world forces good people to do, and Rick is at the center of this theme, and I just don’t see it happening so fully with Shane being alive. It seems that the show has split the graphic novel character of Rick in half, with his good side going to TV show Rick and his tough decision-making side going to Shane. I want Rick to shoot some humans, so that he can start really dealing with morality issues. I also want the survivor crew to move on and away from the farm. There’s a lot more going on in the outside world than simply zombies…they need to start interacting with it!
So, that’s what’s going on with me right now. This is a pretty long post, and it wasn’t too hard to write on paper. I think this long-hand drafting might work out. Now, back to the Locke and Key review…
I don’t know where my head is lately.
Yesterday was Valentine’s Day, and I really should have written this post yesterday, but I didn’t. Instead, I was fuming after getting abandoned by my ride home from work yesterday (I called my husband to pick me up after work when I found my coworker had left me behind). Then, I waited for the car dealership to call me to let me know that my car was ready for pick up. At 5:15, my husband drove me to pick it up–of course we were stuck in traffic for a while. Once we got there, I realized that I had left a pot of water boiling at home (I was in the middle of making pasta when we got the call for the car). So, Jesse had to rush home to save our old wooden house from certain conflagration. Once I got home, I was done.
So, while my mood is improved, I am definitely still insane.
But, yesterday was Valentine’s Day, and after receiving a cute text message e-card, I got into the spirit and sent a few of my own last night.
At this point, you’re maybe wondering why my husband and I didn’t do anything for Valentine’s Day. Well, even though we have significant others, a part of our singleton mentality has survived, and we have never celebrated Valentine’s Day (except for the first year we dated, except that doesn’t really count as we we simply went out on Valentine’s Day to get drunk at a local gay bar as he was upset about his car being stolen earlier in the day. He blamed the car theft on watching The Notebook. He thought he was being punished for watching The Notebook). No, Jesse and I celebrate our anniversary on Feb. 1, although we forgot this year (again, where is my head these days?).
But, anyways, the point of this post was to share the awesome TV show-related e-cards I texted out last night. So, here they are!
So, I received, from my good friend Leigh, this card:
Leigh, is my number one Lost buddy, so this was awesome. She is also my number one Game of Thrones buddy, so I sent her this one in reply:
After this, I got into the spirit, and sent my family some e-cards:
For my Mad Men-loving sister:
And my Breaking Bad-loving Dad:
And my Walking Dead-loving husband:
And for myself, I sent (not really sent, but saved) this, for my Downton Abbey-loving self:
So, Valentine’s Day is just one day that the world says is designated for love. That’s lame. If you care about someone, you should tell them any and every day! Why not send them one of these lovely e-cards?
Adventures in Borkdom 